Cross-Linked ZnO Nanowalls Immobilized onto Bamboo Surface and Their Use as Recyclable Photocatalysts

Chunde Jin,Qingfeng Sun,Jingpeng Li,Jin Wang,Shenjie Han,Zhe Wang

doi:10.1155/2014/687350

Abstract

A novel recyclable photocatalyst was fabricated by hydrothermal method to immobilize the cross-linked ZnO nanowalls on the bamboo surface. The resultant samples were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and Fourier transformation infrared (FTIR) techniques. FTIR spectra demonstrated that the cross-linked wurtzite ZnO nanowalls and bamboo surface were interconnected with each other by hydrogen bonds. Meanwhile, the cross-linked ZnO nanowalls modified bamboo (CZNB) presented a superior photocatalytic ability and could be recycled at least 3 times with a photocatalytic efficiency up to 70%. The current research provides a new opportunity for the development of a portable and recycled biomass-based photocatalysts which can be an efficiently degraded pollutant solution and reused several times.

Highlights

In recent years, environmental problems such as air and water pollution had provided the impetus for sustained fundamental and applied research in the area of environmental remediation [1,2,3]
From the inset of this figure, besides the signal of carbon and oxygen elements, weak peaks corresponding to zinc element were observed in the spectrum of ZnO sol coated bamboo substrate, indicating the formation of ZnO sol on the bamboo surface
From the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image, it could be clearly seen that thickly ZnO nanostructured materials had been immobilized onto the bamboo surface after the hydrothermal reaction

Summary

Introduction

Environmental problems such as air and water pollution had provided the impetus for sustained fundamental and applied research in the area of environmental remediation [1,2,3]. The interconnected nanostructures can greatly improve their mechanical strength [16] Many organic pollutants, such as rhodamine B, methyl orange, phenols, dye, and carboxylic acids, can be photodegraded by nanosized ZnO materials under UV or visible light irradiation [8, 17,18,19]. Bamboo, and cellulose are usually considered good candidates as host materials of nanomaterials because they can improve the stability, retain the special morphology, and control the growth of nanoparticles. These cellulose-based materials have always been environmentally friendly, biocompatible, designed, and feasibly biodegraded [21, 22]. The paper may provide a new and “green” pathway for the design and fabrication of photocatalytic materials to solve the problem of organic pollution

Experimental

Results and Discussion

Conclusions